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Ben Shute, Biography
1905-1986
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Shute: Paintings Biography
 Ben Shute left Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1922 to study art at the Art Institute
of Chicago. In 1928, immediately after graduation, he was invited by the High
Museum in Atlanta to begin its first arts education program, which he modeled
after the Art Institute of Chicago. With the museum's director, Roland McKinney,
he founded the school now known as the Atlanta College of Art. He taught there
for fifty-two years, becoming a pillar of the Atlanta art world and responsible
for teaching, training and encouraging hundreds upon hundreds of budding artists.
Through Shute's friendship with Alan D. Gruskin, owner of Midtown Gallery in
New York, (where Shute's work was shown), well known artists visited Atlanta
by Shute's invitation as guest instructors. They came from N.Y. for six weeks
each year. Among them were Robert Philipp, Dong Kingman, William Thon, Gladys
Rockmore Davis, Frederick Taubes, and Doris Lee. It was an exciting time, and
Ben Shute's work grew in stature.
Shute was a prolific artist, painting, teaching and exhibiting during the academic
year and painting and traveling each summer. He was doing what an artist does,
observing and painting. He painted every day. His travels took him throughout
Greece, Italy, France, Great Britian, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Guatemala, Mexico,
to Porvence where Cezanne lived and painted, returning to Maine every summer
to paint hs seascapes, and especially his beloved fishing boats and the Maine
woods.
Well known for his exquisite watercolors, Shute was also a consummate creator
of beautiful drawings, whether using pencil, pen and ink, or pastels. Speaking
of Ben Shute, E.R. Hunter, a former director of the High Museum, said it best: "No
one who loves life the way he does could fail to communicate something of his
joy to others, and that his particular brand of joy is painting becomes our good
fortune."
Read more about Ben Shute's life and work >>
Ben Shute: Page 1 Page
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4 Biography Keenan
Shute: Paintings Biography
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